Drink-driving figures plummet across coast

David Sharman

Summer drink-driving across the Fylde coast has plummeted according to new figures.

The county’s police force has published the results of its summer drink drive campaign, which has shown those failing tests when pulled over by the police to have dropped by more than half.

Chief Insp Debbie Howard

And officers today welcomed the figures, saying they hoped it meant more people were heeding the drink-driving message.

Of 1,791 drivers tested in the force’s Western division (which covers Blackpool and South Fylde), 22 were found to be over the legal alcohol limit.

This compares to 54 failures out of 1,754 tested over the same period of time last year.

Chief Insp Debbie Howard, from Lancashire Police’s road policing unit, said: “I hope that this reduction is down to more people acknowledging the devastating consequences of drink driving.

“We know that people like to make the most of the warmer weather in the summer months and this can sometimes lead to more alcohol being consumed.

“We want people to enjoy themselves but to be aware of the dangers of driving whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”

In Northern division, which covers Fleetwood, Poulton and Over Wyre, there were 19 failures out of 2,006 tests compared to 15 out of 1,670 in 2012. Overall across the county 144 people failed tests compared to 201 last year.

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